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Sep 5, 2007 5:22 pm US/Eastern
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Microwave Popcorn Could Be Linked To Lung Disease
Chemical In Butter Flavor Concerns Lung Specialist
by Cindy Hsu
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
If you can't pop in a DVD at home without popping a bag of microwavable popcorn, you may have second thoughts now. A lung specialist says the love of buttered popcorn may have led to a rare type of lung disease in a 53-year-old Colorado man.
It looks harmless enough, but microwavable popcorn contains the chemical diacetyl in the buttery flavored topping. It's that chemical that's believed to be linked to the man's lung disease.
The patient in Colorado ate plenty of popcorn -- for more than a decade he'd have it twice a day and when he'd open the bag he'd smell the aroma because he loved it so much.
It's the constant exposure to heated diacetyl that may have caused the problem, according to the man's doctor.
"I have continued to recommend that he avoid using it, consuming it, and preparing it in his home because of the
concern that it is the fumes from the butter flavored popcorn that has caused his lung disease," says Dr. Cecile Rose of the National Jewish Medical and Research Center.
ConAgra is the largest microwave popcorn maker in North America, and has now decided to take the chemical out of it's popcorn such as Orville Reddenbacher and ACT II to eliminate any concern, although it says: "We are fully confident that microwave popcorn is safe to prepare and consume."
Consumers are responding with mixed reaction.
"It doesn't surprise me. You don't know what's in any of these boxes and the combination with the microwave oven, who knows," says Manhattan resident Jenny Strome.
Others don't plan to stop eating the popular snack. "I really don't care because I love microwave popcorn," says Princeton resident Debbie Eisenkraft.
So is it safe to eat buttered microwave popcorn?
"It's very hard to be definitive on the basis of a single case," Rose said. "We really don't know whether there's a risk and how extensive the risk is."
Meanwhile Rose's patient is recovering well. After bagging his popcorn habit, he lost 50 pounds and his lung function is much better.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)